Coin gauging apparatus



Oct. 27, 1936. J KUHN Q 2,058,602

COIN GAUGING APPARATUS Filed July 11, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 'IIIVI/ENTORI By J.J. KUH/V ATTORNEY Oct. 27, 1936. J. J. KUHN 2,053,602

7 COIN GAUGING APPARATUS Filed July 11, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 man IN 5 N TOR By J. KUHN WWW A rom/Er Patented Oct. 27, 1936 UNITED v STATES PATENT OFFICE I COINGAUGING PPARArns I 3 John .I'. Kuhn,- Elizabeth, N. 1.. assignor to Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated," New orlr,'N. Y., acorporation of New Fork l g Application July 11, 1935,'sena1 30,131 j 4Claims. (01.194-102) This invention relates to a coin gauge for coin collecting apparatus such as that employed at a telephonepay station.

. The usual type of telephonecoin collector such as that disclosedin the O. F. Forsberg U. S. =Patent 1,043.,219',issued November 5, 1912, comprises a. housing upon which is mounted what is commonlycalled a v coin gauge comprising a metallic block with. a plurality of openings for receiving 16 coins. of different denominations. Associated with each of these. openings'is. a slot for guiding the deposited coin, into the housing for subsequent collection or refund depending .upon

whether-the desired services are secured.

Such a coin gauge has heretofore been usually die cast and 'has been a relatively expensive articletoproduce, requiring'manyand widely differen-t operations in its production. The size of.

each opening intowhich the coins are placed must; held to fairly close limits in order to gauge; properly each coin for maximum diameter, and when the gauge is electroplated with a metal suchas chromium very careful control of the plating process .is required to insure that the thickness of the plating is such as to-meet manufacturing' limits upon the size of the finished opening. Another factor involved in the manufacture of such gauges is thatthe openings must be varied. to take coins of different denominations or ofdifierent countries.

An object of this invention is to simplify the construction of such coin gauges to obtain an economical assembly and to permit. changing the gauge. to accommodate different size coins withoutundueadditional expense.

Inaccordance with the preferred form of this invention there is-provided a universal gauge block slotted to have. assembled therewith one or a plurality of. gauging inserts suitably formed of hard metal such as stainless steel. The inserts are preferably arranged to be readily removable frornthe mounting block so that insert gauges having different size openings for coins of various denominations or coinage may be incorporated in the same type of block to meet specific requirements for various coin operated devices.

Thus, the gauge mounting block may be die cast or made. of material such as phenol plastic with a plurality of spaced openings in its front face and havingazslot extending upwardly from its base, to the. region behind each opening. Each insert. may comprise a strip of metal bent to provide a plurality of angularly disposed portions with acoin diameter gauging aperture in one portion anda cointhickness gauging slot in another portion. The dimensions of each insert are such as to permit it to be forced up by one of the slots in the mounting block until the coin diameter gauge aperture registers with one of the openings in the front face of the mounting block where the insert. may be suitably held in place by screws, for example. The gauging of deposited coins is, therefore, accomplished by openings in the removable insert and. not by openings in the mounting block itself.

Referring to the drawings Fig 1 is a side view of a telephone 'coin collector of a type capable of employing a coin gauge of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a front viewof one form the coin gauge housing of this invention may possess;

Fig. 3 is a sectionalview of Fig. 2 taken along the line 3-3;. I t

Fig. 4 is an exploded view in perspective of the coin gauge housing'of Fig. 2 with the coin gaug ing inserts removed from the housing;

Fig. 5 is another view of one of the coin gauging inserts of Fig.4;

Fig. 6 is a sectional View of the coin gauging insert of Fig. 5 located within thehousing of Fig. 2;

Fig. '7 is. an alternative type of coin gauging insert; j

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the coin gauging insert of Fig. 7 located in a housing substantially of the same type as that disc losed in Fig. 2 and Figs. 9 and 10 represent sectional views of other types of coin gauge inserts.

One form of the coin gauge of this invention is shown in Figs. 2 to 6 inclusive, and comprises a unitary housing or mounting block I I in the front Wall l2 of which are provided three circular openings l3, l4, and I5 for receiving coins of different denominations such as five, ten and twenty-five cent pieces. From these openings l3, l4, and I5 slots or coin runways l 6, I1, and I8 extend downwardly through the bottom of housing H to permit the discharge of the proper coin inserted in each opening in the front wall of the housing. Each circular opening I3, l4, and I5 has a diam-. eter somewhat greater than the diameter of the coin which each opening is designed to receive.

Mounted within each of the coin runways l6, I1, and I8 is a gauging insert of similar design except as explained hereinafter. The insert IQ for runway H is typical and is shown in different views in Figs. 4, 5, and 6. Insert 19 has an apertured vertical portion 23 which is adapted to fit snugly around the inside face of opening I4 of the housing, the top and side edges of portion 29 fitting snugly in a groove 2| formed in the top and upper sides of runway l1. Insert |9 also has an angular portion 22 which may be suitably attached by screws, for example, to projection 23 of the housing in the lower part of runway IT.

The circular opening 24 in portion 26' of insert H3 is of the proper diameter to gauge coins for maximum diameter and for the specific example shown should be only slightly greater in diameter than a standard ten-cent piece. Since opening M in the housing is substantially larger than opening 24 in the insert the front face of the insert around the opening 24 maybe beveled as shown at the point 25 of Fig. 6 to facilitate the entrance of coins through opening 24. The foot 22 of the insert I9 has an elongated slot 26 to enable a coin inserted through opening 24 to be discharged from the housing. Slot 26 preferably should have a width only slightly greater than the thickness of the standard coin intended to be gauged by insert l9 so that opening 24 will reject coins or slugs having a diameter greater than the standard coin while slot 26 will reject coins'or slugs of a thickness greater than standard even though of standard diameter.

Insert 30 for opening I3 is similar to insert l9 except that its aperture 3| and the slot in its base 21 are designed to accept five-cent pieces and the insert is of slightly diilferent configuration due to the sloping end wall 32 of the housing. Insert 33 for opening I5 is similar to insert 30 except that its aperture 34 and the slot in its base 28 are designed to accept twenty-five cent pieces.

If desired, adjacent edges of the horizontal portions of inserts l9 and 30 may be formed as at the points 35, 38, Figs. 4 and 5, to receive a common fastening screw 36 and a similar screw 31 may be used for fastening the opposite edge of insert l9 and the adjacent edge of insert 33. If desired, the outer ends of the bases of inserts 30 and 33 may also be fastened to the housing in any suitable manner.

As previously stated, Fig. 2 shows the completed coin gauge with the three gauging inserts I9, 30, and 33 in place in the housing Referring particularly to the ten cent gauging portion of the assembly the full line H represents the opening in the housing, full line 24 represents the opening in insert l9, dotted line l1 represents the sides of the coin runway leading down through the bottom of the housing, and dotted line 2| represents the bottom of the groove into which the edges of insert l9 fit as shown in Fig. 6.

In order to facilitate mounting such a coin gauge over an opening in the top of a coin collector 40 as shown in Fig. 1 the front and rear walls of the housing may have horizontal extensions 4| and 42 which may be fastened by rivets, bolts or other means to the main body of the collector. It may also be desirable to have on the coin gauge a downwardly projecting rim 43 which fits into the opening in the coin collector box and prevents strips of paper or other material from being inserted under the gauge to block the coin runways. As shown in Fig. 3 the twentyfive cent gauging insert 33 is placed forwardly of the ten cent and five cent gauging inserts in order that the completed coin gauge may be employed in conjunction with the type of telephone coin collector disclosed, for example, in the O. F. Forsberg U. S. Patent 1,943,219, issued November 5, 1912,

The one piece gauge block may be of die cast metal or may be made of any suitable phenol plastic. The inserts I9, 30 and 33 may be made of a hard metal such as stainless steel.

In Figs. 2 to 6 each insert comprises an L- shaped strip of metal. Figs. 7 and 8 show an alternative type of gauging insert in the form of a U-shaped strip of metal. Referring to these last-mentioned figures the front vertical portion contains the gauging opening 5| for gauging the coin diameter while the bottom member contains a slot 52 for gauging the thickness of a deposited coin. The top and side edges of front wa1l'50 and rear wall 53 fit snugly into spaced grooves in themounting block 54 as shown in Fig. 8 while the distance between the outer faces of walls 50, 53' is such that the insert fits snugly within the slot 55 of the mounting block, this insert being held in place by screws, for example, as in the previous figures. As it is customary to provide a small hole 56 in the rear wall of a coin gauge opposite e'ach'coin opening in order to facilitate the removal of any slug or coin which has become wedged in the gauge it is obvious that with the form of insert shown in Figs. 7 and 8 it will be necessary to provide a small hole 51' in the back plate 53 in alignment with hole '56.

In Figs. 2 to 8 inclusive, the gauging inserts have gauged the coin for maximum thickness by a slot in the base of the insert such as slot 26 of Fig. 5 '30 or slot 52 of Fig. 8 through whicha coin must pass before entering the coin collector. gauging, however, may be accomplished in other ways as shown, for example, in Fig.9. In this figure the rear face 58 of the insert isspaced away from the opposing wall 59 of the mounting'block a distance only slightly greater than'the thickness of the standard coin for the insert sothat' in Fig; 9 a coin of standard diameter but of greater than standard thickness will enter circular opening '60 but will be unable to pass between walls'58 'and' 59 to reach slot 6| and the collector'which'may belocated beneath. It will be noted that the dis'" tance between walls 58 and 59-is much less than the distance between the corresponding walls in Fig. 6, for example.

Fig. 10 shows an additional modificationthat may be made in the gauging insert of Fig.'6to' prevent the possibility that a standard coin may be temporarily held in any manner by failure to fall freely through the thickness gauging slot."

In Fig. 10 the gauging insert 65 as in Fig. 6 has a side wall circular opening 66, theslot 61 in the foot thereof having a width only slightly greater than the thickness of a standard coin. The for ward edge of slot 61 is substantially in alignment with the rear face of insert 65 so that'there is no obstructing ledge between slot 61 and the rear face of the insert on which a deposited coin might be" temporarily held. The screw which holds this insert in the mounting block 68 also supports a broad leaf spring 69 which extends upwardly through a slot in the base 10 of the insert and this spring after bowing out in the path-of coin travel has its upper end in a groove in the mounting block removed from the path of coin traveL' The distance between spring 69 and the rear face of insert 65 should be substantially equal to the standard coin thickness so that a standard tom after insertion through opening 66 will be main tained in substantial alignment with slot 61.

It will be apparent that the gauging inserts |9,' 30, and 33 in mounting block may be readily removed when desired and inserts for gauging other types of coins may be substituted as long as each opening in the front wall in'the mounting This thickness block is larger than the diameter of the coin to be gauged by the insert associated therewith. It also will be apparent that if desired two or more of the gauging inserts I9, 30, 33 may have a unitary construction.

It also is to be understood that other embodiments of this invention are contemplated commensurate in scope with the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A coin gauge comprising a unitary mounting block having a coin receiving hole in the front face thereof, a coin passage extending downwardly from the rear of said hole through the base of said block, a gauging member for insertion into said passage behind said hole, said member having one arm with a coin diameter gauging aperture therein and a second arm angularly disposed to said first arm, said second arm having a coin thickness gauging slot therein, and means for removably fastening said member with said aperture substantially in registry with said hole, and with said second arm interposed in said passage between said base and said hole.

2. A coin gauge comprising a unitary mounting block having a coin receiving hole in one face thereof, a coin passage extending downwardly from the rear of said hole through the base of said block, a gauging member insertable up said coin passage to a position behind said hole, said member having a coin diameter gauging aperture therein, and means for removably fastening said member with said aperture in substantial registry with said hole.

3. A coin gauge comprising a unitary mounting block having a coin receiving hole in a substantially vertical face thereof, a coin passage extending downwardly from the rear of said hole through the base of said block, a gauging member insertable up said coin passage to a position adjacent said hole, said member in said position extending across said coin passage and having a coin thickness gauging slot therein and means for removably fastening said member in said position.

4. A coin gauge comprising a one piece mounting block with integral front, rear and side walls and having a coin receiving hole in said front wall, a coin passage extending downwardly from the rear of said hole through the base of said block, a gauging member insertable up said coin passage to a position behind said hole, the inner surface of said coin passage near said hole being grooved to receive edges of said member to align said member with respect to said hole, said member having a coin diameter gauging aperture therein, and means for removably fastening said member with said aperture in substantial registry with said hole.

JOHN J. KUHN. 

